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November 2017 Newsletter

Now winter has arrived it is time get out into the garden and put it to bed for the winter months. Daylight is at a premium in November and so it’s a matter of making haste while the sun shines. We’ve also had the first frosts of the year already so winter is hot on our heels.

When the sun is shining in November however, it’s lovely. The air is at its freshest all year and it has that smoky, crisp scent you can only associate with the beauty of autumn.

So let’s get out in the garden and set out to do those back-end tasks before you get tucked up indoors once again for the winter.

Enjoy this beautiful time of year.

Jobs to do in November...

Clear borders

Cut back herbaceous perennials to the ground with secateurs, remove annual summer bedding fully and collect all dead leaves and weeds arming yourself with hoe, weeding knife, trowel and rake.

If you are a wildlife gardeners, keep some stem in situ so overwintering pollinators and beneficial insects can shelter in the stalks in the worst of the bad weather.

Prune shrubs and trees

Prune fruit trees and deciduous shrubs by taking out branches that are growing into the centre of the plant or are looking weak, damaged or dead. If you’re unsure if a branch is dead scrape a little bit of the rind off to see if it’s green beneath (alive) or grey/brown (dead).

Plant for spring displays

Cheer yourself up after winter with gorgeous tulips, daffodils, and lots, lots more which all herald the start of the upcoming spring. Plant in containers for a modern courtyard look or in the flower borders for traditional displays. If you like the look of daffodils coming through the lawn in spring- use a long-handled bulb planter to get bulbs under the grass.

Lawn care for November

Eliminate the summer build-up of dead grass and moss from your lawn this November. The dead matter makes a great ingredient for compost and a lawn free of dead matter is ideal as it rests over winter.

After removing the dead matter give your lawn an Aftercut All In One Lawn Feed to gives the grass roots food over winter for a greater lawn next summer.

Protect tender plants

Use protective fleece or sacking to cover young plants, half-hardy perennials like cosmos and chrysanthemums. For Mediterranean trees and palms use an easy-wrap fleece tube you can quickly apply in the evening and take down again during warmer days.

This beautiful shrub Coronilla glauca Citrina flowers practically 12 months of the year. In fact it’s so well-performing the Royal Horticultural Society gave it the thumbs up and an Award of Garden Merit.

Give it full sun and it will even survive shallow, poor soils. It half-climbs, half-creeps and looks great at the back of your flower border over the autumn.

Pest of the Month

Snails in the greenhouse

Snails take refuge in greenhouses in the autumn and like to collect in big numbers on the bottom of pots. When you do your autumn greenhouse clean-up remove as many snails as you can by hand – we recommend you use gloves for this.

Snails may well have laid eggs in your greenhouse so this is where a thorough clean does good. We recommend Citrox Garden and Greenhouse Disinfectant for cleaning staging, shelving and all nooks and crannies that snail eggs can get in.

Unwins “Growing Success” stories

In July we asked you to send us images of your Growing Successes to be in with a chance of being one of 3 lucky winners to each win a £50 Gift Voucher. We were overwhelmed with the amount of entries that came in daily and needless to say, it wasn't easy picking our winners as they were all great photos.

A massive Thank You to all our entrants who took part in this competition and a huge Congratulations to our chosen winners, Mrs. Rolfe, Mr. Whittaker and Mrs. Champion who have all won a £50 gift voucher each, we hope you have many more successes over the years.

Introducing The English Garden

The English Garden is a glossy, inspirational magazine for everyone who loves beautiful gardens, providing a leisurely, yet informative, amble around the nation’s most exceptional gardens each month.

These spectacular spaces are brought to life through exclusive photography and captivating stories. The magazine is both a visual feast and a trusted source of inspiration on how to look after and design the perfect garden.